Friday, September 18, 2015

Political institutions hanging by a threat

The political institutions
established under the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 hang by a thread. The
historic agreement which internationally stands as a beacon of hope for efforts
to advance conflict resolution processes in other trouble spots around the
world, is now at the point of collapse. Of the many crises faced since the
Agreement was achieved over 17 years ago this is probably the most dangerous,
both because of its contrived nature and because the issues at its core should
not be matters for the politicians and political institutions but for the
police.

It is now clear after the
arrest and then release of Bobby Storey last week that the grave concerns Sinn
Féin has expressed about recent events; how they occurred, and how they were
subsequently handled, are entirely justified. As Bobby pointed out in his press
conference on Sunday; “The PSNI had no basis for arresting me. At no time
during my detention did the police present a shred of evidence or intelligence,
which in either my opinion or the opinion of my solicitor, warranted my arrest.
Questions must be asked about the timing and nature of my wrongful arrest.”

It is also important to
note that the British Secretary of State knew two days before his arrest that
Bobby was to be lifted by the PSNI. Some in the media were briefed also, as
were some unionist politicians.

The question that must be
asked is whose agenda is being served by this crisis and by the spin and the
arrests. It is certainly not Sinn Féin’s. It is also now obvious that the
Ulster Unionist Party has sought to exploit these murders for very narrow party
political reasons.

The DUP’s electoral pact
with the UUP during the Westminster election, which saw the UUP take Fermanagh
South Tyrone and the DUP’s south Antrim seat, has emboldened that party. Afraid
of being gobbled up by the DUP or Jim Allister’s TUV, the UUP leader Mike
Nesbitt has embarked on a political strategy to present his party as effective
in challenging republicans and the DUP as impotent. Hence this contrived
crisis. Thus far Nesbitt has succeeded even though there have been
extraordinary moments of incoherence, contradictions and confusion during his
contribution to debates on recent news programmes.

Sinn Féin’s position was well
articulated by Bobby Storey on Sunday during his press conference. ‘The IRA
is gone, stood down. It’s not coming back. The only republican organisation is
Sinn Féin. The only republican leadership is the Sinn Féin leadership.’

It is important also to remember
that there are other matters tied up in this crisis. These include the absence
of a workable budget, outstanding issues arising from the Good Friday and other
agreements, including Acht na Gaeilge, a Bill of Rights and the failure to
implement the Stormont House Agreement.

The threat by the British
Secretary of State that she will legislate on welfare matters is not helpful.
It is however typical of the approach of this British government to the
process. For almost five years it disconnected from the agreement. So too did
the Irish government. As co-equal guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement their
responsibility is to uphold its integrity and implement it in full.

The Taoiseach needs to make
the north a priority. Over the last few years he has virtually abandoned his
responsibilities. It is a reality that clumsy interventions at times of crisis
are no substitute for long-term engagement and the strategic consistency which
is what is required.

For our part Sinn Féin will
respond to all of these events in a calm and reasonable manner. We refuse to
kneejerk. Sinn Féin will also engage in any talks in good faith and determined
to find resolutions and agreement on all outstanding matters. But We will not
accept or tolerate a situation in which the democratic rights of our electorate
are not recognised and valued on the same basis as those of other parties.

Nor will be lectured to by unionist parties who turn a blind eye to
loyalist violence and who work with loyalist paramilitary groups in pursuit of
mutually agreed political objectives – like getting sectarian marches through
nationalist areas.

The unionist parties’ attitude to the murders of Jock Davison and Kevin
McGuigan in Belfast and to the recent revelations about the sell-off of NAMAs
northern loan book for a third of its value of £4.5 billion, as well as
allegations that a senior politician in the north was to benefit from this, are
all evidence of their ad hoc attitude to the political institutions.

Sinn Féin could have decided to walk away from the Executive over the
NAMA issue. We didn’t. We asserted the primacy of due process and the need for
these very serious allegations of political corruption to be fully investigated
by the relevant Assembly and policing agencies.

The negative unionist approach comes from its difficulties in coming to
terms with the new political dispensation. They want to have political power on
their own terms and not on the basis of equality, as set out in a series of
agreements. Pandering by both governments to Unionism has reinforced this
tendency.

It is obvious that the manner in which the DUP and the UUP are treating
the institutions is seriously damaging public confidence in politics. In the
longer term Unionism will be freed and liberated by the ending of partition and
the union. These are the causes of the dysfunctionality which regularly
surfaces in the political institutions and the contradictions between the
rhetoric of unionist leaders and their actions.

In the immediate short term it is obvious that the parties in the North
and the two Governments need to live up to our obligations and to do the work
we are well paid to do. A starting point should be to support the police in
their work.

The police for their part also have questions to answer but that too should
be done in the appropriate way and through the appropriate accountability
mechanism. Police should be above politics. It has no place in the political
processes.